Jaroslav Janus rose up and played his best AHL game of the season stopping 21 of 23 shots, including a Brett Sutter penalty shot, to take his first win as an Admiral this season. He kept the Admirals where they needed to be through the first two periods and then made sure to make the last stop or two the team needed to pull away at the end. What Mike Smith was for the Lightning against Chicago last night, Janus was for the Admirals tonight.

Blair Jones is now the Norfolk Admirals' all-time leading scorer. He tied and then destroyed the record with a 3 point night that now leaves him just 3 points shy of his career high in points, despite the fact he set that mark in 80 games in 2008-2009 and he's played just 52 games this year. Jones has always been a BoltProspects favorite since his days with Moose Jaw and his rookie season with Springfield in the AHL. Through all the ups and downs of his professional career, he's kept getting better and climbing the ladder. To surpass some of the most beloved Admirals in the history of that franchise to claim the mantle of leading scorer is truly impressive and special.

His new line, with Marc-Antoine Pouliot and Mattias Ritola showed tonight it could be one of the league's best going into the playoffs. Ritola also had a 3 point night and now has 22 points in 13 AHL games this year. For his part, Pouliot climbed to 6th in the AHL in scoring with 69 points in 65 games.

Mark Barberio got point 29 tonight. He needs 1 more point in the 4 games remaining this week to reach the 30 point plateau.

Norfolk pulls to within 3 points of the Checkers for 3rd in the East Division with 2 games in hand, and now holds a 2 point edge over Binghamton with 1 game in hand. More to the point, the Admirals magic number for making the postseason is now 1 point. With a 6 point lead over Worcester and just 3 games remaining for the Sharks, any combination of a point gained by the Admirals or a point lost by Worcester will clinch a playoff berth for the Admirals by, at a minimum, the crossover rule. Interesting note about the crossover rule, if Norfolk were to crossover they could gain the 3rd seed in the Atlantic Division if they can continue to lead the Atlantic's 3rd place team, the Connecticut Whale. However, for tonight, the crossover seems like an afterthought for a team that controls its destiny to climb into the #3 spot in the division.

Dustin Tokarski allowed 4 goals on 16 shots before leaving the game with an injury. With Cedrick Desjardins likely shelved for the rest of the season, any kind of injury to Tic is a big, big problem. The early indication is that Tokarski had his chin sliced open with a skate blade. So, you'd think he should be back, but considerably more ugly, for the road trip.

Jaroslav Janus allowed 1 goal on 14 shots for the hard luck loss. It was, by far and away, Janus' best performance of the season, and he may inherit the starter's job if Tokarski is out for any length of time.

Mattias Ritola has 19 points in 12 AHL games this season. Classic case of being too good for the AHL but not quite good enough to stick in the NHL?

Radko Gudas is -9 since the calendar turned to 2011 and he has plummeted from a +20 rating to a +11 rating in a little over 3 months. With an assist tonight, the Lightning's other gifted young defenseman, Mark Barberio now has 28 points and is just 2 shy of the 30 point plateau.

Norfolk finishes their season 19-11-10 at home. There have 5 games remaining in the regular season, and all will be on the road.

Norfolk remains in 4th place in the East Division by 1 point thanks to a loss by Binghamton. The Ads still hold 1 game in hand on the Senators. Unfortunately, 3rd place Charlotte won to take a 5 point lead over the Admrials with Norfolk holding 2 games in hand. It's not impossible for Norfolk to catch the Checkers, but they have to win their next game in Charlotte to have any kind of legitimate chance. Honestly, though, I want no part of Hershey. I'd almost rather play Wilkes/Barre-Scranton or take the crossover into the Atlantic Division and play Portland or Manchester.

Norfolk's remaining schedule: at Charlotte on Monday, at Binghamton on Wednesday, at Syracuse next Friday and Saturday, and the season finale at Connecticut next Sunday. It's a brutal stretch of 5 road games in 7 nights, with uncertainty between the pipes because of injuries.

One bit of good news, with Worcester's 4-1 loss to Providence, the gap on the 4th place team in the Atlantic remained at 6 points. The Sharks have just 4 games remaining, so any combination of Norfolk points earned and Sharks points lost equal to 3 will officially clinch a playoff spot for the Admirals. But, right now, it feels like the team is backing into the playoffs, and that's not good.

The â€˜Blades pulled ahead of South Carolina and Wheeling for fourth in the East after beating the Stingrays 4-1 in the first game of a three game set to finish the regular season. Itâ€™s possible these teams could play 10 games in a row as they could be meeting each other in the first round of the playoffs. South Carolina is currently in sixth, but just two points behind Florida and one behind Wheeling. All have played 70 games. Alex Hutchings scored his 13th goal of the season then ignited a brawl of sorts after the play by attempting to spear an opponent. Jarsolav Janus sat backup to Mike Zacharias (34/35) in his latest return to the ECHL from Norfolk.

The Norfolk Admirals have signed goaltender Pat Nagle to an Amateur Tryout Contract (ATO), Admirals General Manager Julien BriseBois announced today. In addition, the Tampa Bay Lightning, NHL parent club of the Admirals, have reassigned goaltender Jaroslav Janus (YAHR-oh-slahv YAHN-ihs) from the Admirals to the ECHLâ€™s Florida Everblades, Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman announced today.

Nagle, 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning last week. He played in 37 games with the Ferris State (Mich.) Bulldogs this season, posting an 18-14-5 record with a 2.02 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage. He ranked fifth in NCAA Division-1 in GAA, tied for ninth for shutouts with three and tied for 10th in save percentage. Nagle also set school records for GAA and was tied for second in save percentage.

Yuck. There had been some hope that since the Checkers had to travel further that they'd be the more tired of the two teams. Norfolk did outshoot Charlotte 41-23 in the contest, but it didn't matter considering 1 out of every 3 shots was going in for the Checkers. Mercy. The silver lining is that Paul Szczechura and Mike Angelidis each got their 19th goals of the season, putting them 1 shy of the magic 20 goal mark.

Norfolk's fortunes in the standings took a beating tonight, too. 3rd place Charlotte moved 3 points ahead with the Admirals still owning 3 games in hand. 2nd place Hershey lost in overtime to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton so they gained a point and are now 6 points up on the Admirals with Norfolk holding 3 games in hand. But, now Norfolk is receiving pressure from behind them. Binghamton won today, moving them to within 1 point of Norfolk with the Admirals still holding 2 games in hand. Heck, even Worcester won in the crossover.

With 8 regular season games to go, a lot of positive scenarios are still open for Norfolk to achieve, but unfortunately some of the disappointing ones are still on the table, too. Norfolk has a brutal schedule next week, although all three games are at least at home: the Penguins on Wednesday and the Bears on Friday and Saturday. And then, the final week of the season will be a grueling 5 game road trip over 7 nights in Charlotte, Binghamton, a 2 game set in Syracuse, and a season capping matchup in Connecticut against the Whale. It may be a good thing that Norfolk has an 8 point lead in the crossover, after all.

Bobby Goepfert stopped 23 of 26 shots to take the loss for Florida Wednesday in the first game of a three game set with Wheeling. Alex Hutchings did not register a shot for the second straight game. With five games left, Florida (74 points) is one point behind South Carolina for fourth in the East with a game in hand, but just one point up on Wheeling and Elmira, who are tied for sixth. Cincinnati is in eighth with 72 points. The â€˜Blades put some distance between them and ninth-place Gwinnett (67 points) with a three game road sweep last weekend. Goaltender Jaroslav Janus is currently with AHL Norfolk.

Janus stopped 34 shots in his return to ECHL Florida to give the â€˜Blades a win in their final road game of the regular season and a three game sweep of the Gladiators. Janus has won three of his last four decisions. Meanwhile, Hutchings was scoreless for the third straight game. Florida is now one point behind fourth place South Carolina with a game in hand. The â€˜Blades will play their final six games of the season at home, including the last three against South Carolina. Theyâ€™ll get sixth place Wheeling, who is three points behind the â€˜Blades, for three games before the South Carolina series.

Cedrick Desjardins allowed 3 goals on 11 shots before being pulled after the first period. Jaroslav Janus entered and allowed 2 goals on 20 shots the rest of the way before allowing 1 of 5 shooters to convert to take the shootout loss.

Paul Szczechura was the game's 2nd star. After months of wandering aimlessly without his family's Michael Corleone, Juraj Simek, to direct him, Vladimir Mihalik finally scored his first goal of the season 7:34 into the final frame to tie the game and force overtime. Janus and Mihalik almost made Albany sleep with the fishes.

Mike McKenna turned away 40 shots and all 5 shooters he faced to get some revenge on his former club.

Norfolk keeps pace with Hershey, which lost in OT to Portland, will gain a point on Charlotte with the Checkers getting the snot beat out of them 6-1 in the final period in Syracuse (BoltProspects projects Syracuse will beat Charlotte!), and they lose 1 point to Binghamton, which blanked Springfield 2-0. So, at the end of the night, Norfolk will be tied with Charlotte for 3rd in the East Division at 84 points with 2 games in hand and they'll remain 7 points back of Hershey with 3 games in hand. They'll also be 7 points up on Binghamton with 1 game in hand. 12 games remain in the regular season, and just a couple more wins will likely give Norfolk enough points to get a playoff spot, considering they also picked up a point on Worcester in the crossover tonight and will be a full 10 points up on the Sharks with 1 game in hand. Worcester would have to make up a 10 point deficit in their remaining 11 games, and that seems unlikely. So now, it's all about seeding and the outside chance of catching Hershey and getting home ice for the opening round.

Janus filled in for starter Bobby Goepfert in the first period, down 3-0. Newly acquired forward Brad Snetsinger, a former Windsor Spitfire, had all three goals for Florida. Hutchings now has points in six of his last eight games.

Florida is now three points back of South Carolina for fourth in the East, but just one ahead of Elmira and Wheeling. The Everblades are three points ahead of ninth place Cincinnati.

Hutchingsâ€™ 11th goal of the season, scored shorthanded, gave Florida a brief 2-1 lead midway through the third period. Greenville scored just 14 seconds later to make it 2-2. Greenville fought back from a 3-2 deficit with the game-tying goal with under two minutes to go, but the Everblades got a goal from Matt Beca in overtime for the win. Jaroslav Janus watched from the bench in his first game back from AHL Norfolk. Former Lightning draftee Dusty Collins, who started the game on a line with Hutchings, was scoreless in his Everblades debut. Florida sits in fifth in the Eastern Conference, two points back of South Carolina for fourth, but just five points ahead of Cincinnati, who is ninth.